East-West Data Traffic

Definition:

• East-West traffic refers to data that moves laterally within a data center or corporate network. This includes server-to-server communications, data replication, backups, and inter-process communications.

Characteristics:

• Internal Communication: Involves data exchange within the data center infrastructure.

• Microservices and Virtualization: Increased use of microservices architecture and virtual machines has led to higher volumes of east-west traffic.

• Security Challenges: Traditional perimeter defenses are less effective; requires internal segmentation and monitoring to detect lateral threats.

• High Bandwidth Demand: May require high-capacity links and low-latency connections due to the volume and speed of internal communications.

Examples:

• Database synchronization between servers.

• Communication between application servers and database servers.

• Data processing tasks distributed across multiple servers.